“This problem may take a few years to solve. Fuel oil is a heavy substance and it is now sinking to the seabed,” Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of the state Rosprirodnadzor agency, told Russia’s state-run Vesti-24 channel on Sunday.
Common problem
“This is a very serious environmental disaster,” he said. “The wind is now blowing in the direction of Ukraine’s coast, so it is our common problem.”
The 13 crew members were drifting aboard the ship’s stern in the Kerch strait, which runs between the Azov and Black Seas. Efforts to reach them were hampered by the storm, which was gaining force.
Habitat damage
The likely effects of the spill were not immediately clear. When the oil tanker Prestige sank off Spain in November 2002, about 64,000 tonnes of fuel oil leaked, causing severe habitat damage to beaches in France, Spain and Portugal.
“According to preliminary data, some 1,300 tonnes of fuel oil could have spilt into the sea,” Vesti-24 channel quoted emergencies ministry officials as saying.
The tanker, Volganeft-139, was on its way from the port of Azov in the southern Russian region of Rostov to Kerch in Ukraine’s eastern Crimea when high waves broke its hull at around 0445 (0145 GMT) on Sunday, Russian media reported.
